Week 64

Kia Ora Whanau

Happy New Year everyone! 

So this week we had big plans but typical mission life, none of them happened lol. 

On Tuesday we planned to go to our golden investigator Bernardo's house and invite him to be baptized. We all felt really giod about it and when we got there he aas still sleeping because he works night shifts. We talked to the members that he lives with for a little but and then Bernardo's dad rocked up and the rooom got tense. Bernardo came out to the living room and was pretending to be all goods but you could tell something was up. Then he and his dad went back to his room and nek minit all you hear is Bernardo's dad yelling in Portuguese at Bernardo. We were like oiaue we should go! So we left and were like "well that was not ideal". We went back the next day for dinner and switched plans to just share a short message and set a return appointment where we could then invite him to be baptized. It went really well! He's been keeping all of his commitments and so thats awesome! 

On Wednesday we went to a small town called Alexandra, which is about an hour away from Queenstown. We were walking around and it was raining. My companions did not want to walk and were in a little bit of a mood because of the rain but I was like "nah we are walking, we're misisonaries, that what we do". Then as we were walking some lady driving past saw us, pulled over and yells "Sisters!" She's a visiting with her family from Australia and was wondering if we had a churhc meeting in Alexandra. We told her that there is one and then she gave us the address of her part member family! It was a miracle! Afterwards I said "walking brings blessings!" Because that lady would not have been able to pull over and talk to us if we were in our car! 

On Friday we went in exchanges with the Sisters in Timaru. I went to Timaru and it was cool to see one of my old areas. It was a really good exchange. We did some service, had a ward volleyball night, created a family search account for a lady they're teaching and contacted some potentials. Timaru is 4 hours away from Queenstown so it was also allt of driving but Sister Telford and I had some really great car convos so all around it was a good exchange.

After exchanges we comtacted some people in Cromwell (a small town 45 minutes away from Queens town) and then had dinner with some less active YSA. It was a good night. We invited all of them to come to church the next day and one of them, Lofi, said he would and then my companions gave him a high five but he gave them a high five with the back of his hand. I said "Oi Lofi! That back handed high five is a weak commitment! Are you coming or not?" He laughed awkwardly because I had just called him on his lie. He then commited to actually come and then he did! 

Church was really spiritual. Testimony meeting in both Queenstown and Alexandra were really uplifting and it was such a powerful meeting. I also tried my best to prepare to take the sacrament and let me tell you it made a huge difference. It made the experience so much more meaningful and touching. It took effort but was so worth it. I left the meetings feeling so edified and strengthened, ready to face the next week. 

This week my spiritual thought comes from a talk given in October 2014 General Confernece by Cheryl A. Esplin (Sister Elise Esplin's Grandma) entitled "The Sacrament - a Renewal for the Soul". In it she says "Aaronic Priesthood holders represent the Savior when they prepare, bless, and pass the sacrament. As a priesthood holder extends his arm to offer us the sacred emblems, it is as if the Savior Himself were extending His arm of mercy, inviting each one of us to partake of the precious gifts of love made available through His atoning sacrifice—gifts of repentance, forgiveness, comfort, and hope" I love this because it reminds us what our focus should be as we partske of the sacrament and what blessing come as we really focus on Christ and the power of His atoning sacrifice. I hope that this coming Sunday that everyone is a little more thoughtful when partaking of the sacrament so that they to may have an uplifiting and edifying experience, accepting the gifts of the Saviour "—gifts of repentance, forgiveness, comfort, and hope." 

Ofa Atu 

Sister Olson 

- dinner with YSA (they're actually more just Single adults lol, they're old)
- the views
-we like to take awkward photos 
- the members made us pão de queijo while Bernardo was "talking" with his dad.








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